More than 450 dedicated officers will be involved in the policing operation in the Greater Glasgow area alone and McInulty urged fans to be on their best behaviour.

He said: “If you are intent on bringing anything to the ground that you shouldn’t have, be that alcohol, be that any form of offensive weapon or, indeed, some form of pyrotechnic device don’t do that.

Brian McInulty

“If you are caught trying to take something in that you shouldn’t have then, quite simply, you will be arrested and you will be held to account.”

In recent years flares traditionally associated with matches on the continent have been set off at grounds across the country but McInulty said they have no place in Scottish football.

He added: “The reason for that is about safety.

“If you are standing there trying to enjoy the football and someone throws a flare at you, those things are dangerous

“It is very, very hot and the reaction around it is a safety concern.”

Police would not be drawn on specific banned songs and chants but said offensive material will not be tolerated.

He added: “I would urge all supporters to come out, get behind your team, enjoy the match and respect one another.

“If there is anything there of a criminal nature then we will, absolutely, deal with that.”

McInulty stressed troublemakers who evade the law on matchday should not rest easy, including those who post poisonous comments and threats on the internet.

He added: “Anything that comes to our attention from a criminal nature is something that we will look at.

“If you don’t find yourself being held to account on Sunday, don’t consider that to be the end of it.

“We will carry out retrospective investigations and we will make sure that anybody that is involved in an form of criminality is held to account through the Scottish criminal justice process.”

The operation in and around Hampden will include plain clothes officers, police dogs and officers from the mounted branch.

Police will also work closely with stewards inside the ground to identify troublemakers.

Senior officers have briefed both the Celtic and Rangers squads ahead of the game, which will be broadcast live on Sky Sports.

Many of the players will be making their Old Firm debuts.

McInulty said: “In my experience, in the past, quite often what happens on the pitch can influence people off the pitch.

“We have reminded players of that.”

Dozens of young officers will also be policing the notorious Glasgow derby for the first time and, from a law enforcement perspective, they are not alone.

McInulty added: “I was talking to some of my colleagues from the mounted branch and, this might seem a bit odd, but some of the horses have never worked at a Rangers-Celtic fixture before.”

Less officers are deployed at Old Firm games now than they were five or six years ago, due to the increased focus on intelligence led policing.

Sunday’s operation, which will be co-ordinated from the Events Room at the high-tech Road Policing Unit in Govan, will be national in its scope.

It will be linked to the Match Commander Superintendent Jim Coubrough in the control room at Hampden.

Representatives from the Scottish Fire & Rescue Service, the Scottish Ambulance Service and British Transport Police will also be on hand in the Events Room to lend their expertise.

McInulty, local policing commander for Greater Glasgow, added: “If people are going to watch this in the pub in Aberdeen, Dumfries, Edinburgh or Dundee we will have officers out to make sure it is a safe environment for everybody.”

Police would not be drawn on whether they have intelligence about pre-organised violence.

But the force is taking no chances with serial domestic abusers.

Officers will target people who are awaiting trial for assault or who have been released on licence from prison with strict conditions.

Police will begin detaining potential abusers today (FRI) and warnings will also be issued.

Those called out to domestic incidents will also be able to ask victims if they believe that the abuse is linked to football.

Detective Chief Inspector Sam McCluskey, head of the national Domestic Abuse Task Force, said: “What we’re trying to do is keep domestic abuse victims and their children safe.

Police restrain a man ahead of February's 2015 match at Hampden

“To do that, rather than managing the risk by just going out to attend incidents, we are trying to remove the risk by removing the perpetrator.

“What we’re going to try and do this time is capture some information around it that will be data that will allow us to actually measure whether or not it was related to the game, because now, we don’t know that.”

NHS Greater Glasgow confirmed all its A&E wards will be “staffed accordingly” for a major city event.

It will be the first time the new state-of-the-art Queen Elizabeth University Hospital has been operational during an Old Firm game.

Football-related casualties have been treated on the site in the past when it was the Southern General.

The Scottish Cup semi-final is the first meeting between the bitter rivals since February last year.

That match, which Celtic won 2-0, made headlines for all the wrong reasons.

Old Firm players during last season's League Cup clash

Flares were let off at Hampden and 10 of the 19 arrests concerned alleged sectarian breaches of the peace.

Police praised the behaviour of most fans at the game but blasted a minority who set off flares and took part in sectarian singing.

The worst incident occurred before the match - the first Old Firm clash since April 2012 - when schoolboy Kieran Duffy was bottled by a thug as he travelled to Hampden in a minibus.

The Rangers fan lost two teeth and was lucky not to be blinded when the vehicle was attacked on Cathcart Road.

Despite a £1,000 reward being offered by a local businessman the suspect was never arrested.

Under new boss Mark Warburton Rangers have already comfortably won the Scottish Championship.

Their return to the top flight next season will guarantee at least three to four Old Firm league matches a season.

Ronny Deila’s Celtic are on course for a fifth successive Premiership title and are odds on favourites to lift the Scottish Cup.